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Faculty in the News

Ohio State law professors are sought out for their expertise by a number of news media outlets and blogs with large audiences. Topics range from the death penalty to voter ID laws to artificial insemination – and our faculty members’ quotes and analysis can be found everywhere from small-town and national newspapers to radio broadcasts to cable news programs. The following is a selection of media coverage for Moritz College of Law faculty.

To request an interview, media should click here for more information.

2007 Media Hits

Professor Joshua Dressler was quoted in a New Orleans Times-Picayune story regarding the FBI investigation into Rep. William Jefferson's actions. "By hiding all of that information and making it seem like a casual conversation, (FBI agents) can claim he wasn't in custody and he can't make any realistic claim about constitutionality," said Joshua Dressler, an Ohio State University legal scholar and author of several volumes on criminal procedure. "They are under no obligation to show him their cards."

Professor Peter Swire was quoted in The Roanoke Times regarding the history and future of information privacy laws. The story states: “The actual writing of privacy regulations was overseen by Peter Swire, who in 1999 and 2000 advised the president as the country's first chief counselor for privacy. Now a law professor at Ohio State University, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and a legal consultant, Swire said the HIPAA privacy rules that eventually took effect in 2003 were a needed response to the medical industry's shift from paper to electronic records. ‘The best time to build a new system is at the start,’ Swire said.”

Professor Peter Swire was quoted in a San Francisco Chronicle story regarding the creation of California’s chief of the state Office of Privacy Protection. “Peter Swire, a law professor who created a national privacy office for the Clinton administration and advised McNabb, said she figured out a good strategy to survive. One challenge when you're creating something new, he said, ‘is how to become relevant.’”

Professor Dan Tokaji was quoted in the Canton Repository in a story about Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner’s plan to switch to central count optical scan ballots. The story states: “Daniel Tokaji, an Ohio State University law professor and expert on the state’s elections law, is critical of EVEREST in his blog: ‘In the end, the EVEREST report doesn’t make a convincing case for Ohio’s scrapping its existing technology — particularly for 2008, a timetable that would wreak havoc on local election officials and, ultimately, inure to the detriment of voters ... there’s a wide gulf between EVEREST’s findings, which warrant careful attention, and its recommendations, which aren’t supported by the evidence and have a seat-of-the-pants feel to them.’”

Professor Dan Tokaji was mentioned in a Cleveland Plain Dealer story regarding Ohio Secretary of State’s call to get rid of the state’s electronic voting machines. “Touch-screen machines alert voters before they cast their ballots. The alert is a crucial safeguard to ensure ballots cast by minority and low-income voters are counted, said Dan Tokaji, a law professor at Ohio State University and associate director at Election Law @ Moritz, which focuses on election law issues.”

Professor Edward Foley was mentioned in a Columbus Dispatch editorial about regarding Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner’s proposal to toss out the state’s electronic voting systems. “The machines' memory cards, security codes and other features can be strengthened to minimize errors. Mandatory audits of election results in 10 percent of precincts would be a useful check, lessening concerns that the systems are miscounting. That idea was put forth by Edward B. Foley, director of the Election Law @ Moritz program at Ohio State University's Moritz College of Law, in a Forum column on Wednesday.”

Professor Peter Shane was quoted in a Boston Globe story regarding the current presidential candidates’ views on executive power. “Peter Shane, an Ohio State University law professor who studies executive power, said Romney's answers suggest that the former Massachusetts governor will probably embrace the Bush administration's legal theories on executive power. ‘It's fair to say that the Democrats, Senator McCain, and Representative Paul are united in supporting a reinvigoration of checks and balances and the reassertion of a meaningful congressional role in national security affairs,’ said Shane.”

Professor Douglas A. Berman was quoted in a Law.com story regarding the Supreme Court’s upcoming decision on the use of lethal injection. "This is a setting in which states progressively moved through history to more and more humane execution methods," said sentencing scholar Douglas Berman of Ohio State University Michael E. Moritz College of Law. "This one seemed 'more perfect,' but now they're being told, 'Hey, we're worried you're not as perfect as you could be.' There is a genuine concern that demanding a heightened perfection is tantamount to bringing the system down all together."

Professor Peter Swire was quoted in an IDG News Service story that was published in multiple venues, including infoworld.com. “The release of the privacy principles is an important and welcome step, said Peter Swire, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank, and a law professor at Ohio State University. Although some privacy groups blasted the FTC for approving Google's DoubleClick deal, the acquisition has helped place focus on the entire online advertising industry's privacy practices, Swire said. ‘It's good that the FTC is shining a spotlight on this industry,’ Swire said Friday. ‘Online advertising is in its second boom. They're trying lots of new techniques; some of those techniques have privacy problems.’”

Professor Peter Swire was quoted in an Associated Press story regarding the Federal Trade Commission telling the online advertising industry that it needs to be more transparent about how consumers' Web-surfing habits are tracked. The story was printed in several newspapers and on several media’s web sites, including The New York Times and The Washington Post. "You shouldn't have to be a computer geek to protect your privacy," said Peter Swire, an Ohio State University law professor and senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank.

Professor Edward B. Foley published in Opinion Editorial in The Columbus Dispatch regarding Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner’s call to count ballots in a central location in each county, rather than in each individual precinct. "In preparing for next November, Ohio would do well to emulate Minnesota's audit approach, rather than to stop counting ballots at the precinct before they may be recounted centrally."

Professor Dan Tokaji was quoted in the Cleveland Plain Dealer regarding Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner’s plea to Cuyahoga County officials to dump its current election machines. The story states: " ‘This county and others would do better to focus on people and procedures, rather than attempting a risky and expensive overhaul,’ said Daniel Tokaji in a statement submitted to the board. Tokaji is an Ohio State University law professor and associate director of Election Law @ Moritz, a nonpartisan project that focuses on election issues.”

Professor Dan Tokaji was quoted in an Associated Press story published by several media outlets across the country, including CNNMoney.com. The story details Cuyahoga County reaction to Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner’s call to change voting systems. The story states: “The county should make its electronic touch-screen voting system work rather than changing to a new system, warned Daniel Tokaji, associate director of the election law program at Ohio State's Moritz College of Law. ‘To make changes in voting technology at this point is really a roll of the dice in a way that I would not recommend,’ Tokaji said.”

Professor Douglas A. Berman was quoted in a Toledo Blade editorial supporting a Supreme Court decision that gives more authority to federal judges in determining sentences. The editorial reads: “According to Ohio State University law professor Douglas A. Berman, an expert on federal sentencing guidelines, the decisions tell the circuit courts not to tamper with sentences unless the ones imposed by judges are completely ‘out of whack.’”

Professor James J. Brudney was quoted in the Washington Post in a story about congressional hearing about changes to the nation’s labor laws over the past several years. The story states: “Some academic analysts say the board has become increasingly politicized in recent decades, starting with the anti-union appointments by President Ronald Reagan and continuing under President Bill Clinton, who appointed union lawyers to the board. But the latest decisions have a drawn a firestorm of criticism. ‘The act is supposed to protect the right to organize and engage in collective bargaining,’ said James J. Brudney, a law professor at Ohio State University. ‘But if the agency charged with supervising and enforcing the act is perceived as part of the problem and not the solution, then that's a dangerous development for the future of the agency.’”

Professor David Goldberger was quoted in an Associated Press story that was printed in several Ohio papers regarding Gov. Ted Strickland's decision to allow nativity displays in state parks. The story states: “David Goldberger, a constitutional law professor at Ohio State University's Moritz College of Law, said the high court has repeatedly ruled against government-sanctioned religious displays _ but it depends whether they are stand-alone or part of a larger holiday scene.”

Professor Dan Tokaji was mentioned in an Associated Press story that was published in several Ohio newspapers. The story was in response to Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner’s report concerning the vulnerabilities of the state’s election machines. The story states: “Dan Tokaji, an associate professor at Ohio State University's Moritz College of Law, said he was concerned about some of Brunner's recommendations. He said Brunner's idea of voting centers will put undue burden on minority and low-income voters to get transportation to a location farther from their home _ reintroducing the legal question of whether the state's election systems is fair to everyone.”

Professor Dan Tokaji was mentioned in an Associated Press story that was published in several Ohio newspapers. The story was in response to Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner’s report concerning the vulnerabilities of the state’s election machines. The story states: “Dan Tokaji, an associate professor at Ohio State University's Moritz College of Law, said he was concerned about some of Brunner's recommendations. He said Brunner's idea of voting centers will put undue burden on minority and low-income voters to get transportation to a location farther from their home _ reintroducing the legal question of whether the state's election systems is fair to everyone.”

Professors Steven F. Huefner, Daniel P. Tokaji, and Edward B. Foley published an Opinion Editorial in Roll Call regarding vulnerabilities in the election systems of five Midwestern states. The three professors recently published a report, From Registration to Recounts: The Election Ecosystems of Five Midwestern States. “If our political representatives are to serve with their electorate’s full confidence, the processes used to select those representatives must be sound. As a nation, we must continue improving our election systems to promote greater access, integrity and finality. Our democracy depends on it,” the editorial says.

Professor Douglas A. Berman was quoted in several newspapers regarding U.S. Supreme Court rulings in two sentencing cases. Stories where we was mentioned were published in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, and Baltimore Sun. He also was mentioned in an Associated Press story. In the New York Times, Berman was quoted as saying the decision was a “stinging rebuke of circuit court micromanagement of district court discretion.”

Professor Douglas A. Berman was quoted in the Chicago Tribune regarding a connection between the sentencing of Michael Vick and two Supreme Court rulings. Vick, a former quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons, pleaded guilty to charges in August that he was bankrolling and operating a dog-fighting ring. The story states: Overall, judges who deviate from the guidelines have proven 10 times more likely to impose lighter punishment than called for in the rules, which are ‘pretty darn harsh’ and emphasize ‘aggravating factors’ over mitigating ones, Berman said. ‘We've had a significant shift, though not nearly as much as most defendants would want,’ he said.

Professor Peter Shane published an Opinion Editorial on the Jurist Legal News & Research website regarding Senator Leahy, Executive Power, and the Rule of Law. “The past seven years have escalated the assault on those norms that has become all too routine since the Reagan Administration. As a result, and paradoxical though it may seem, any successful return to a “rule of law” ethos between the elected branches now requires Congress to back its legal arguments with political muscle.”

Ohio State Law Professor Douglas A. Berman was quoted in an Associated Press story regarding two Minnesota men who may be sentenced to life in prison for sex crimes. "We see it pretty commonly nationwide -- lots of attention, lots of chest pounding and proud rhetoric from the politicians, `We're trying to keep you safe,' but a much more complicated story as these laws go into effect," said Douglas Berman, a sentencing expert at Ohio State University.

Professor Ruth Colker was quoted in a Columbus Dispatch story regarding a Nativity scene in front of the Whitehall, Ohio, city hall. The story states: “Ruth Colker, a law professor at Ohio State University, doesn't see it that way. If Whitehall wants to keep its Nativity scene, she said, it will have to add to it -- not more reindeer and Santas, but symbols of non-Christian religions. ‘If you had a Nativity scene with a menorah and Buddha, it has sort of a different effect,’ she said. That would show the city was not endorsing any one particular religion, Colker said.

Professor David Goldberger was quoted in a Chillicothe Gazette editorial about the Ohio law that restricts access to individual weapons licenses. The editorial states: “‘I think a litigator is going to have a wonderful time challenging this,’" said David Goldberger, a professor at The Ohio State University and First Amendment specialist.

Moritz professors Steven F. Huefner, Daniel P. Tokaji, and Edward B. Foley were quoted in several newspaper, television, and radio stories around country concerning the release of their new book From Registration to Recounts: The Election Ecosystems of Five Midwestern States. The professors, along with Election Law @ Moritz consultant and web editor Nathan Cemenska, spent a year creating the unprecedented report of election systems in Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.

Professor Sarah Cole was quoted in a story on law360.com regarding the Supreme Court’s request for supplemental briefs in the case of Hall Street Associates v. Mattell. The story says that because the justices made the request, and specifically how the request was worded, could indicate that the court may sidestep the matter completely. The story states: “‘Parties are more creative than they used to be and that’s pushing the court system to decide what’s acceptable and what’s not acceptable,” said Sarah Cole, a law professor at Moritz College of Law at Ohio State University. (Subscription required)

Professor Daniel C.K. Chow was quoted in a Columbus Dispatch story regarding an ongoing series on counterfeiting in Asia. Chow said that the lack of tough punishments for counterfeiters is contributing to the ongoing problem. "The penalty is often death for narcotics, whereas if you're a counterfeiter, people say, 'OK, you're just a businessman,' " said Daniel C.K. Chow, an Ohio State University law professor and a counterfeiting expert. The lack of enforcement is the main reason the trade flourishes as never before, he said.

Professor Daniel C.K. Chow was quoted in an Associated Press story that was published in the International Herald Tribune and other papers. The story, which was highlighting a Columbus Dispatch investigation, discusses the growing problem of counterfeiting in China. “Ohio State University law professor Daniel C.K. Chow spent two years in China leading anti-counterfeiting efforts for Cincinnati-based Procter & Gamble. Because tens of millions of Chinese depend on fake goods for their livelihood, local officials ignore or even profit from the trade, he said. ‘Part of the risk of investing overseas is that some of your technology is going to get stolen,’ he said. ‘China has unprecedented access to the world's technology, and it's the leading counterfeiter in the world. That's not a coincidence.’”

Professor Dale Oesterle was quoted in a Reuters story regarding Citigroup's sale of a stake in the company to Abu Dhabi's investment arm. The story details the pitfalls and advantages of government-controlled wealth funds. “These (wealth funds) are arms of the government. They're not independent investors,” said Dale Oesterle, a law professor at Ohio State University's Moritz College of Law. "Right now they want money, like all good investors do, which is great. What's worrisome is that at some point these investors could turn into a foreign policy arm of their government.”

Professor Daniel C.K. Chow was quoted in a Columbus Dispatch story regarding the sale of counterfeit goods in China. The story states: "Ohio State University law professor Daniel C.K. Chow spent two years in China leading anti-counterfeiting efforts for the consumer products giant Procter & Gamble. Because tens of millions of Chinese depend on fake goods for their livelihood, he said, local officials ignore or even profit from the trade. 'Most consumers think it's harmless fun to buy knockoffs,' Chow said. 'But if you buy counterfeit products, you are supporting organized crime and all the abuses that come with it, including narcotics, smuggling and prostitution.'"

Professor Douglas A. Berman was quoted in a Los Angeles Times story regarding the growing number of requests for pardons and commutations. The rise has resulted in the largest and most persistent backlog of cases in recent history, according the story. "This is not just a call for Bush to get with the holiday spirit," said Douglas A. Berman, a sentencing expert and professor at Ohio State law school. "It may also be a call for a new attorney general to recognize that his job . . . is also to be attentive to the more common injustices that, sadly, we can get numb to."

Professor David Goldberger was quoted in a Toledo Blade story regarding Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann supporting a law that prohibits journalists from writing down, or in any way recording, the names of gun owners kept by county sheriffs. "I think a litigator is going to have a wonderful time challenging this," said David Goldberger, professor at the Ohio State University Moritz College of Law and a specialist in the First Amendment. “They're trying to prevent publication by preventing a reporter from recording or summarizing on a piece of paper. They say it can be published, but you can't separate that from the fact that, once [a reporter has] information that's been lawfully gathered with his or her eyes, it can't be written down in readable form. They're trying to have it both ways."

Professor Peter Swire was quoted in a CNet news.com story regarding the Google’s attempt to purchase DoubleClick, an online advertising company. The story states: “That hasn't stopped antitrust enthusiasts from trying to invent ways to merge privacy and competition law by bureaucratic fiat. Peter Swire, a law professor at Ohio State, came up with two main arguments: first, that the privacy ‘quality’ of the combined company's products may suffer, and second, that privacy violations can harm ‘consumer welfare.’”

Professor Marc Spindelman was quoted in an Associated Press story that was published by several Ohio newspapers and television stations, including the Cincinnati Post and the Akron Beacon Journal. The story details Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland’s decision to include compensation, and not benefits, in his May order that banned workplace discrimination of sexual orientation and gender identity. "It looks to me that this is more of a political judgment than it is a principled judgment," said Marc Spindelman, an Ohio State University law professor and gay rights advocate. "It may be that the governor doesn't want to arouse a sleeping giant."

Professor Peter Swire was quoted in a Racine, Wis., Journal Times story regarding the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act 10 years after it was passed. The story stated: “‘HIPAA was necessary,’ said Peter Swire, a law professor at Ohio State University. In the Clinton White House he was coordinator for the HIPAA rules as they were being drafted. ‘During the 1990s, health-care payments shifted from paper to electronic. That meant that patients’ medical records were flying around in electronic form, and Congress correctly said that security and privacy and security should be built in at the same time. Before HIPAA we had no national medical privacy law.’ The resulting rule seems much closer to common sense than its critics suggest, Swire said. If a doctor needs access to health records she can have it, but those records can’t go to a boss, a pharmaceutical company, or a neighbor without the patient’s consent.”

Professor Alan Michaels was quoted in an Associated Press story that was picked up by several newspapers and television stations, including the Houston Chronicle and CNNMoney.com. The story was about Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann’s decision to file subpoenas against several sub-prime mortgage lenders. "For large banking and securities matters, most states leave a lot of regulation to the federal government," said Alan C. Michaels, an Ohio State University law professor specializing in white-collar crime. "It is the exception not the rule for a state to take it on itself."

Professor Douglas Berman was quoted in Time magazine in a story about sentencing discrepancies for those people convicted of dealing crack cocaine and those dealing cocaine. The story reads: “But according to Douglas Berman, a professor and sentencing expert at Ohio State University's Moritz College of Law, prosecutors have an extraordinary amount of discretion in deciding whether a case gets tried in state or federal court. ‘Ironically,’ he says, ‘the more lenient a state is on these issues, the more likely the local federal prosecutor will say, 'Well, I have to take these cases to really bring the hammer down.’’”

Professor Peter Shane was mentioned in a Boston Globe story regarding how President Bush used a political maneuver to make a conservative majority on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. The story states: “But until Bush's 2004 appointments, no president used reregistrations by sitting commissioners to satisfy the law that forbids presidents from appointing a fifth commissioner of the same party. Bush's move , represented an unprecedented ‘escalation’ in hardball politics, said Peter Shane, Ohio State University law professor.”

Professor John Quigley has had an Opinion Editorial published in several newspapers, including the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and the Charlotte Observer. The editorial discussed the possible implications of a United States attack of Iran. “Whatever risk Iran may pose, and it is not clear that it does, a military attack is not the solution. The immediate consequences are easy to predict. We further inflame feelings against us in the Middle East, and beyond. The resulting anti-American sentiment makes it more difficult for our allies to support us.”

Professor Marc Spindelman was quoted in the Gay People’s Chronicle regarding the University of Cincinnati offering partner benefits. The story states: “Ohio State University law professor Marc Spindelman said in July that the ruling also cleared the way for establishing LGBT rights and benefits, as long as they stop short of offering all of the benefits of marriage. Spindelman pointed to part of the majority opinion written by Chief Justice Thomas Moyer. He says it is the key to what the court thinks of the amendment’s second sentence, which reads: ‘This state and its political subdivisions shall not create or recognize a legal status for relationships of unmarried individuals that intends to approximate the design, qualities, significance, or effect of marriage.’”

Professor Douglas Berman was quoted in a New York Times story about the Federal Sentencing Commission lowering the sentencing guidelines for crack cocain offenders. “Some legal observers said the guideline changes were a way of shoring up the commission’s credibility in the wake of a 2005 Supreme Court case that allowed federal judges, many of whom thought the guidelines were too harsh, to apply lower sentences in some crack cocaine sentences. ‘That created a kind of instability in the overall sentencing guidelines,’ said Douglas A. Berman, an Ohio State University law professor. ‘I think the commission recognized that the long-term health of all of its guidelines depends on its ability to get judicial adherence to their guidelines.’

Professor Terri Enns was quoted in a Columbus Dispatch story about how Columbus Mayor Mike Coleman has spent his campaign funds. “Campaign laws give politicians wide latitude, said Terri Enns, a professor of election law at Ohio State University's Moritz College of Law. The law, she said, weighs four factors: ‘Is it a legitimate, verifiable, ordinary or necessary expense?’”

Professor john a. powell was quoted in a Newsweek column regarding the issues of race and class in the 2008 presidential election. "Republicans talk about race, but they talk about it through code … and put the Democrats on the defensive," says john powell, executive director of the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at Ohio State University. (powell does not capitalize his name as a nod to e. e. cummings and to the political consciousness of the 1960s.)

Professor Sarah Cole was quoted in a National Law Journal story regarding the U.S. Supreme Court’s upcoming case involving the Federal Arbitration Act, and whether the act allows parties to expand judicial review of an arbitration decision beyond the terms of a statute. The story states: “But the main motivation of the drafters of the FAA was ‘to ensure enforcement of the parties’ agreement as written,’ said Sarah Rudolph Cole, director of the Program on Dispute Resolution at Ohio State University Michael E. Moritz College of Law. ‘I think the drafters would say, 'If that's what the parties want to do, we should enforce the contract as written,’ ’ she said, adding that companies, particularly those with much at stake, may refuse to use arbitration if there is no provision in the agreement providing for this type of judicial review.” Subscription required.

Professor john a. powell was quoted in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel in a story about Milwaukee creating a comprehensive plan to decrease poverty. "The real thing that affects people is not poverty, but being disassociated from society," said one expert, john a. powell, who asks that his name appear in lowercase. Powell is a professor and director of the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race & Ethnicity at The Ohio State University and the Gregory H. Williams Chair in Civil Rights and Civil Liberties at the Moritz College of Law.

Professor Greg Travalio was quoted in the Kansas City Star regarding people suing for airbags not deploying in their cars. The story states: “Agreements in many of the airbag cases contain provisions to keep settlements amounts and company records secret. The practice has drawn criticism from some law professors. If other accident victims knew the amounts of the settlements, they could make better decisions on whether it was worth suing, said Gregory Travalio, an Ohio State University law professor. Courts sealing company records raises another issue. ‘These documents, if disclosed, might allow consumers to have better information about the dangers of products,’ Travalio said, ‘and might be useful information to government regulators as well.’”

Professor Douglas Berman was quoted in an Associated Press story that was published by the USA Today and several other newspapers. The story discussed the possibility of executions being stopped forever because many states have delayed executions while the Supreme Court discusses the use of lethal injections. "The abolitionists will say if we have no executions for six months to a year, and the universe is not imploding and murder rates are not going through the roof ... it becomes easier to say, 'Why do we even need the death penalty, let's just get rid of it,"' Berman said.

Professor Douglas Berman was quoted in a New York Times story regarding whether the Supreme Court has essentially placed a moratorium on executions until it rules on a pending case. The story states: “And Douglas A. Berman, a law professor at Ohio State University who has followed the issue closely, proclaimed ‘moratorium mojo’ Thursday morning on his blog, Sentencing Law and Policy.”

Professor Douglas Berman was quoted in a Washington Post story regarding the Supreme Court’s decision to delay a Virginia execution until after it rules on the use of lethal injection. "I think this is a de facto moratorium," said Douglas A. Berman, a sentencing expert at Ohio State University's law school. Since almost all executions are carried out by lethal injection, he said a halt "would mean the most profound hiatus in the operation of the death penalty in at least two decades."

Professor Peter Swire was quoted in a Guardian Unlimited story about the potential privacy concerns of a pending Google-DoubleClick merger. “Professor Peter Swire, an anti-trust lawyer, said that increasingly online content was sponsored by targeted adverts which only worked if advertisers had sufficient CPI. ‘This merger unites the two biggest collectors of CPI,’ he said. ‘Combined, they will have petabytes [a quadrillion bytes] and will be able to charge publishers more for online content - and the effect will be to shrink content.’”

Professor Paul Rose was quoted in a Financial Week story regarding the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan's decision to pay $46 million for proxy adviser Glass Lewis. "It's definitely a positive for Glass Lewis to get out from under Xinhua, but they may have just traded problems," said Paul Rose, a law professor at Ohio State University. "I wonder if the mutual funds will view their advice as favorably as they used to."

Professor Douglas Berman was quoted in a San Jose Mercury News story regarding the Supreme Court’s review of the use of lethal injections as a form of execution. “The Supreme Court realizes it is writing the map," said Douglas Berman, an Ohio State University law professor whose criminal justice blog is widely read on subjects such as lethal injection. "No matter what they do, they can't make it worse."

Professor Creola Johnson was quoted in a Toledo Blade story regarding credit card solicitations on college campuses. The story mentions the Moritz Civil Law Practicum, which is teaming with Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann to sue those credit card companies who allegedly used deceptive practices to lure students. The story states: “Creola Johnson, a law professor at Ohio State, has studied card marketing to students, and said without laws that ban or restrict marketers, states must aggressively guard against deceptive practices. ‘If you think about it, when we think of victims of predatory practices people don’t normally think of college students because they think of them as being rich in comparison to most people who run into financial difficulty,’ she said. ‘But I think the reason we don’t hear more horror stories about college students is because their parents essentially bail the students out when they run into difficulty in most cases.’”

Professor Peter Swire was quoted in The Columbus Dispatch in a story regarding a MySpace page that was created by someone pretending to be a Cleveland teenager accused of shooting and wounding people inside his high school. “Legally, individuals are allowed to pretend to be someone they aren't as long as they don't hack into an account to do so and they don't gain financially, said Peter Swire, an Ohio State University law professor. Whether Cleveland detectives could argue that acting as Woodard did obstruct justice, Swire said, ‘I'm not so sure.’

Professor Dan Tokaji was quoted in an Associated Press story that was printed in more than a hundred newspapers across the country. The story was about how, because of new early voting laws in some states, residents were casting votes in the presidential primary elections before Iowa and New Hampshire, which normally lead off the primaries. "It's a distinct possibility that people could be casting ballots for candidates who are out of the race by the time their vote is counted," said Dan Tokaji, an elections law expert from the Moritz College of Law at Ohio State University.

Professor Peter Swire was quoted in a ComputerWorld.com story regarding the potential privacy concerns of new advertisements on Facebook.com. The story states: "Peter Swire, a law professor who specializes in privacy at Ohio State University, noted that the key question is whether Facebook users have given their consent for their name or face to be used to endorse products. State laws differ about how a person can give consent, he said. 'Quite possibly Facebook didn't think about this problem, and they may need to make their consent more explicit to avoid [common law privacy] problems,’ he added. In addition, there is a separate issue for obtaining consent from minors, Swire said. While states have different definitions for the age constituting a minor, those laws require parental consent to use a person's name or likeness to sell product. 'Facebook should be careful using this tool with minors," he said.

Professor Dale Oesterle was quoted on the web site www.hedgefund.net regarding the Stoneridge Investment Partners vs. Scientific-Atlanta and Motorola case before the U.S. Supreme Court. “Oesterle believes the effect of a Stoneridge win might not have been that great, either. Plaintiffs would still have to prove third parties intended to participate in a fraud, and he said most would be clever enough to protect themselves from that. ‘I think the business community really overstated the problems that would be created,’ Oesterle said. ‘They protested almost too much. Now what might happen is because they raised such a stink about it, they’ve got the attention of congress.’”

Professor Douglas Berman was quoted in a New York Times story regarding a New Jersey town that is considering prohibiting high-risk sex offenders from living anywhere within it. “Creating residency exclusion zones can create a false sense of security, said Douglas A. Berman, a professor at Ohio State University’s Moritz College of Law. He added that barring sex offenders from living in a town does not stop them from traveling through it.”

Professor Douglas Berman was quoted in the Drug War Chronicle regarding the U.S. Supreme Court’s upcoming case involving sentencing guidelines in drug cases. "Everyone is struggling" with the federal sentencing conundrum, said Doug Berman, professor of law at the Ohio State University Moritz College of Law and author of the Sentencing Law and Policy blog. "Most prominently, they are trying to figure out what to make of this opaque standard of reasonableness," he said.

Professor James J. Brudney was quoted in an Employment Law 360 story regarding Sidley Austin LLP agreeing to pay $27.5 million to end an ageism suit. "James J. Brudney, an employment professor for the Michael E. Moritz College of Law at Ohio State University, said there was already pressure growing within the legal community to 'modify if not abandon' mandatory retirement practices at law firms. He said the policies are in place for firms that feel a need to provide more opportunities for younger lawyers and to avoid the discomfort of making individual decisions about the performance of senior colleagues. 'But by forcing out older lawyers en masse, they lose the services of many who remain productive and successful. That sacrifices important firm assets and risks foregoing future income streams,' Brudney said. 'The Sidley Austin case suggests it also may result in litigation that is expensive and reputationally harmful.'" (Subscription required)

Professor Alan C. Michaels was quoted in The New York Times regarding the perjury case against Barry Bonds. The story discusses what will happen when Bonds’ trainer is released from jail, where he’s been since July for refusing to testify. The story states: “The Justice Department has an internal policy of not subpoenaing witnesses to appear before a grand jury if they have been jailed for a significant period during the life of a previous grand jury, said Alan C. Michaels, a law professor at Ohio State. ‘In that case, the U.S. attorney’s office would have to ask main Justice in Washington for approval to subpoena him again,’ Michaels said. ‘The department rarely grants U.S. attorney’s offices the right to do this and only in cases in which the witness’s testimony is crucial to the case.’

Professor Douglas Berman was quoted in a Houston Chronicle story regarding the sentencing of Oscar Wyatt, who pleaded guilty Monday to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud for his role in a $200,000 payment made to the former Iraqi regime in 2001 through the United Nations oil-for-food program. The story states: “Both sides should have plenty of ammunition to make their cases for or against a longer sentence, said Douglas Berman, a law professor at Ohio State University who specializes in sentencing issues. The reams of documents the government produced during the trial and the gravity of the allegations could be revisited by prosecutors as they make their case first to pretrial services, the government agency that makes sentencing recommendations, and then to the judge himself. ‘This is where the prosecutors need to decide how aggressive they want to be,’ Berman said.”

Professor Peter Swire was quoted in an Investment News article regarding fiduciary standards and client privacy. The story states: “Peter Swire, a law professor at Moritz College of Law at Ohio State University in Columbus who helped draft the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act as President Clinton's privacy counsel, said: ‘GLB applies the same to contact information and more detailed financial information. Individuals are required to have the choice to opt out before either is shared outside of the corporate family.’”

Professor Douglas Berman was interviewed on NPR’s All Things Considered program about the disparity in sentencing minimums between crack and powdered cocaine. The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule on the matter this term. “The practical effect (of the disparity) has been much longer sentences for low-level crack offenders,” he said. That has had a disproportionate impact on African Americans.”

Professor Donald Tobin was quoted in the Montgomery Advertiser regarding an IRS warning to self-proclaimed clergy members who are attempting to misuse a law to avoid paying federal income taxes. The story states: “Donald B. Tobin, a former U.S. Department of Justice tax attorney, said challenging the IRS on corporation soles is almost pointless. ‘Nobody has ever succeeded with one of these,’ said Tobin, who now teaches law at Ohio State University.”

Professor Edward Lee was quoted in a New American story about how the Internet is changing the way presidential candidates campaign. The story cites a story Lee did on the topic that rates candidates by their popularity on youtube.com and other web sites. “Paul has the most views on average per video (nearly 85,000) and the most subscribers on YouTube (nearly 25,000) — more than doubling the numbers of the closest competitor from any party.”

Professor Peter Swire was featured on Columbus’ ABC 6 station at 6 p.m. Oct. 1 regarding a story about people who log into others’ Wi-Fi Internet connections. A Reynoldsburg man is under investigation after he was caught in the parking lot of a hotel reportedly downloading pornography from the hotel’s free Internet connection. Swire said that it should not be illegal to log on to Internet “hot spots” if you can find them.

Professor Douglas Berman was quoted in U.S News and World Report regarding a U.S. Supreme Court case that involves disparities in sentences for crimes involving crack and powder cocaine. "It could be a very dramatic moment in the 25 years of debate," says Douglas Berman, a law professor at Ohio State University.

Professor Douglas Berman was quoted in The Dallas Morning News in a story about what the Supreme Court decision to hear a case on death penalties could mean for executions across the country. The story states: “Douglas Berman, a sentencing expert at Ohio State University's law school, called it a ‘molasses moment in the overall operation of the death penalty’ because it will slow, but not stop, the death machinery.

Professor Katherine Federle was quoted in a Dayton Daily News story about whether juveniles are being treated too much like adults in Ohio. The story states: “Ohio State University law professor Katherine Federle agrees. Research shows the last part of the brain to develop, typically at age 18 to 25, is the prefrontal cortex, which helps people understand the consequences of their actions, she said. ‘Ten-year-olds don't even come close’ to full development. Also, ‘kids have a higher false-confession rate,’ she said. ‘They try to acquiesce to authority.’”

Professor Douglas A Berman was quoted on the front page of The New York Times in a story about states delaying executions until the U.S. Supreme Court makes a ruling on the use of legal injections. “There is a momentum quality to this,” said Douglas A. Berman, a law professor at Ohio State University who has a blog, Sentencing Law and Policy. “Not only the Supreme Court granting the stay, but also the Alabama governor doing a reprieve that is likely to lead to other states with executions on the horizon waiting to see what the Supreme Court does. I’ll be surprised if many, and arguably if any states other than Texas, go through with executions this year.”

Professor Daniel Tokaji had an Opinion Editorial printed in The Los Angeles Times. The editorial involved the Supreme Court’s decision to hear a case that challenges an Indiana law that requires voters to present government-issued photo identification. Tokaji says: “A decision upholding Indiana's ID law on this rationale would have major implications for the 2008 election. It would give self-interested politicians the green light to impose burdensome restrictions on those voters likely to favor the other party's candidates. Instead, the Supreme Court should faithfully adhere to its poll tax precedent and nip discriminatory ID laws in the bud.”

An Associated Press story that quotes Professor Douglas Berman was picked up by several major newspapers across the country. The story was a follow story to the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to hear a case regarding the use of lethal injection as a manner of executing someone. He was quoted in The Chicago Tribune, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and Seattle Times. He also was quoted in a Houston Chronicle story. "Doug Berman, a sentencing expert at Ohio State University's law school, said he expects some state courts to stop executions while awaiting the outcome of the Kentucky case. If neither the Texas execution nor the one set for today in Alabama is stopped, he said, 'It will be a pretty strong statement that it's business as usual.'"

Professor Douglas Berman was featured on NBC Nightly News, in The New York Times, and in several newspapers regarding the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to hear a case on the use of lethal injection in executions. The court is expected to determine whether the use of lethal injections is cruel and unusual punishment. “This is huge news, which could (and probably should) lead to a de facto moratorium on all lethal-injection executions nationwide until the Supreme Court issues a ruling,” Berman was quoted as saying on nytimes.com. He also was quoted in The San Francisco Chronicle, BBC News, the New York Sun, and the Lexington Herald Leader.
Click here to watch the NBC Nightly News video.

Professor Sarah Cole was quoted in an adrworld.com story regarding the Ohio Supreme Court’s ruling that a wrongful death claim is not subject to arbitration. The story says: “Prof. Sarah Cole of the Ohio State University Moritz College of Law said ‘the court correctly examined Ohio's wrongful death statute to see whether it makes the spouse, or other heir's, claims derivative of the employee's claim.’ The court explained that state law makes those claims independent rather than derivative, she noted. ‘In other words, a spouse's independent and direct claim for wrongful death is not subject to a contract that the party did not sign,’ she added.

Moritz College of Law Dean Nancy Rogers was quoted in a National Law Review story regarding a bill awaiting the president’s signature that would provide some relief to those people with student loans. Relief would be contingent upon high-debt or work in the public service sector. “Nancy Rogers, president of the Association of American of Law Schools and dean of the Ohio State University Michael E. Moritz College of Law, said the bill will also help organizations retain top workers. ‘It is so important that the public sectors of this nation are able to attract the very best lawyers,’ she said. ‘We were seeing signs that it was becoming more difficult to do so.’”

Professor Paul Rose was quoted in a Financial Week story about Institutional Shareholder Services possibly being interested in purchasing Glass Lewis, a proxy advisor. “Being public brings transparency, but transparency could be a good thing,” said Paul Rose, a law professor at Ohio State University who was interviewed for the GAO report. “ISS has already been very careful about making things clear for its clients. Just being under the SEC’s watch, and scrutinized more thoroughly, will help its reputation.”

Professor Edward B. “Ned” Foley was quoted in The National Law Journal regarding a case expected to be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court in the upcoming term. N.Y. Board of Elections v. Lopez Torres challenges lower court rulings striking down New York's convention system for selecting candidates to its trial-level state supreme courts, the article says. “The 2d Circuit decision is ‘pretty aggressive,’ said election scholar Edward Foley of Ohio State University Michael E. Moritz College of Law. ‘It calls for use of the 14th Amendment to invalidate state law and policy on not only how to structure a voting process but also your judicial system,’ he said. ‘In that sense, I could imagine the court asking whether it’s appropriate to federalize this issue of state governance.’”

Professor Greg Travalio was quoted in The Columbus Dispatch and on several television stations regarding the Civil Law Practicum’s collaboration with Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann to file two lawsuits against four companies for using deceptive advertising to persuade Ohio State students to apply for credit cards. "We do have a particularly vulnerable group of people," Travalio said. "We are seeing particularly egregious marketing practices."

Professor Ruth Colker was quoted in The Athens News in regards to a lecture that she gave at Ohio University. Colker’s talked with titled “Is Separate Inherently Unequal? A Disability and Race Perspective?" "We need to be mindful of how mantras can cause us to develop policies that aren't necessarily effective," Colker said, explaining that the U.S. court system tends to presume integration to be the best solution in schooling.

Professor Peter Shane published an Opinion Editorial in Roll Call regarding how to coerce cooperation in the investigation of eight U.S. attorneys who were fired this year. “A narrowly tailored threat of budgetary retaliation has no obvious disadvantage. It promises to lead our elected branches to a sensible balance between Congress’ compelling interest in investigating possible Justice Department wrongdoing and the president’s legitimate concern for preserving an expectation of confidentiality for his dealings with senior advisers.”

Professor Dan Tokaji was quoted in the Akron Beacon Journal, the Cincinnati Post and other papers in a story regarding the 2008 election. Ohio’s secretary of state is encouraging voters to submit absentee votes to avoid long lines on Election Day, the story says. Daniel Tokaji, a law professor at Ohio State University who specializes in election law, applauds Brunner for encouraging early absentee voting at elections boards. "I couldn't agree with her more," he said. "That, to my mind, was one of the most important reforms we can look to in 2008."

Professor Dale Oesterle was quoted in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle regarding the possible sale of Bausch and Lomb. "That company is going to look a lot different," said Dale Oesterle, a mergers-and-acquisitions expert at Ohio State University. "The people in Rochester who think this company is going to look the same and stay the same, that's not going to be true."

Professor Douglas Berman was quoted in The New York Times regarding Michael Vick’s future sentence. The judge deciding Vick’s punishment allowed a third party to intervene. That party, a consortium of animal rights groups, will argue that Vick should be sentenced to 57 months in jail. “The filing creates an atmosphere in which the defense may be forced to respond to the groups’ claims, and in which the probation office will have to take notice,” said Douglas A. Berman, a professor of law at the Ohio State University and an expert on sentencing guidelines. He added: “It could change the dimension a lot. If the probation office says we know they agreed to 12 to 18, but we are convinced by this brief, the office may argue for 18 to 24 months. This could have a ripple effect.”

Professor Douglas Berman was quoted in the Toronto Star regarding Conrad Black, the former chairman of Hollinger International Inc., trying to settle a civil lawsuit filed against him in hopes of reducing his criminal sentence. Ohio State University law professor Doug Berman, an expert in sentencing issues, said settling the Hollinger lawsuit would be good for Black "after he went on with his Don Quixote-like railing against the process." Berman said it's also possible that prosecutors might be less inclined to pursue a lengthy sentence against Black and others if they settle the civil claims. "If you put a few drinks into the prosecutors they'd probably tell you they don't think he deserves 20 or 30 years but they have to come out guns blazing just to try and make sure he doesn't get a walk."

Professor Douglas Berman was quoted in a New York Sun story regarding possible sentences for a Palestinian Arab activist found guilty of refusing to testify before a grand jury investigating the activities of a terrorist group, Hamas. "If you can throw in the terrorism enhancement, it acts as a nuclear bomb, for lack of a better word, in the sentencing guidelines," a law professor who specializes in sentencing issues, Douglas Berman of Ohio State University, said.

Professor Joshua Dressler was quoted in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in a story regarding discrepancies in prosecutors’ decisions to charge parents when those parents accidentally leave children locked in a car. "Prosecutors have almost unbridled discretion to decide whether or not to prosecute based on facts they have," said Joshua Dressler, a law professor at Ohio State University. "Even if you have two cases that were exactly alike, you would not necessarily get the same outcome from two prosecutors looking at the same facts."

Professor John Quigley published an Opinion Editorial that was distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. The editorial was picked up by The Columbus Dispatch and other newspapers. Quigley said in his piece that domestic terror may be linked to the U.S.’s Mideast policies. “The hostility that leads to terrorism is not a product of personal difficulties in which individual Muslims may find themselves. It is more plausibly explained as a response to our own policies in the Middle East — what we are doing in Iraq and Afghanistan, and what we have done over the years on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. That hostility is widely shared through the Middle East and leads some to resort to violence.”

Professor David Goldberger was quoted in The Columbus Dispatch regarding a change to an Ohio Law regarding gun permit records. As of Sept. 29, reporters will be able to view the records, but not copy or take notes from them. David A. Goldberger, an Ohio State University law professor and First Amendment expert, called the law preposterous and a clear free-speech violation. "What you're doing is essentially interfering with the ability of the press to report information that they've been given access to," he said. "It's an effort at censorship under the guise of limiting access."

Professor Paul Rose was quoted in a story in The Deal regarding the proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. The story says: “Who governs the governance industry? No one, it seems. While the Securities and Exchange Commission has rules on conflict prevention for governance raters in proxy voting, there is no statutory duty of care specifically applicable to governance advisory work, according to Paul Rose, assistant professor at Ohio State University's Michael E. Moritz College of Law, who studied the industry.” (Subscription required.)

Professor Douglas Berman was quoted in a newspaper story published on TCPalm.com about the local affects of the new U.S. Attorney General. Berman said in the story, which was published by Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers along Florida’s east coast, that said until the new attorney general is named it’s unclear how the death penalty will be applied, specifically in the case of a family of four killed on Florida’s Turnpike last year in Port St. Lucie, Fla. The story says: “Who is picked for the office will have a huge impact on how often and in what circumstances the federal government seeks death, such as in the Escobedo case. It also will determine if executions are a main issue or are put on the back burner, Berman said.”

Professor Peter Swire was quoted in The Columbus Dispatch regarding Columbia Service Partners and a warranty it sells to homeowners to protect external gas lines. Despite Columbia Gas taking over authority of the external gas lines (making the warranties unnecessary), Columbia Service Partners is changing its warranty parameters and will continue to charge customers $4 a month unless customers respond to a letter saying they no longer want to subscribe, according to the story. "The problem here is that many customers will throw away the letter, but they will still be on the hook," Swire said.

Professor Peter Shane was quoted in hundreds of newspaper and television stories around the world regarding the resignation of U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. The Associated Press story that cited Shane was printed in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Forbes, and several others. “Selecting a successor to Gonzales will be a challenge because the Senate is unlikely to confirm anyone as aggressive as Gonzales in the defense of executive power and the practice of secrecy,” said Peter Shane, professor at The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law.

He also was quoted in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and dozens of other Cox Newspapers, as well as in The Columbus Dispatch. His Opinion Editorial on the Jurist web site was linked by Yahoo News.

Professor Peter Shane was quoted in a story in The Cincinnati Post and several other newspapers regarding Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland’s use of executive power. "In every government, when you have different parties in control of the executive branch and the legislative branch, you're going to find the executive branch looking for ways to exercise its power unilaterally," Shane said.

Professor Peter Swire was quoted in a Federal Computer Week story regarding the U.S. government and European Union struggling to find the right amount of information to release to fight terrorism and protect the rights of the innocent. The article states: “Despite its promise, however, anonymization isn’t used as extensively in the federal government as some security experts would like. ‘I’ve been disappointed that the U.S. hasn’t adopted anonymizing technologies,’ said Peter Swire, law professor at Ohio State University and a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, a think tank. Swire also was the Clinton administration’s chief counselor for privacy, a now-defunct post.

Professor Doug Berman was quoted on NBCSports.com in a story about Michael Vick’s expected plea deal. "In particular," said Doug Berman, an Ohio State law professor and expert on the sentencing rules in federal court who has taken a keen interest in the Vick case, "this is what's so fascinating. In the sentencing dimension alone, you can make lots and lots or arguments in every direction -- who Vick is, the nature of the crime, the collateral inquiries and interests of the NFL. There are all these moving parts. Lots of people have lots of interests in trying to predict what's going to happen."

Professor Douglas Berman was quoted in The New York Times regarding federal dog-fighting charges pending against Michael Vick, the quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons. Two more of Vick’s co-defendants pleaded guilty to similar charges. “Even with a plea agreement, Vick most likely would face the harshest sentence of the four because of his role as the financier of the enterprise, Douglas A. Berman, a professor of law at Ohio State University, said Friday. ‘The sentencing guidelines the judge will consider as part of the sentencing provide for increasing the defendants’ sentence if he was an organizer and leader of the criminal activity,’ Berman said. ‘The defendants have laid out that Vick funded the enterprise, and that will hurt Vick because the guidelines expressly encourage enhancing the sentence of those who had leadership roles in the offense.’”

Professor Douglas Berman was mentioned in The New York Times in a story regarding the federal charges filed against Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick. Two of Vick’s co-defendants pleaded guilty to the charges. The story stated: “According to Douglas A. Berman, a professor of law at Ohio State University who writes the blog Sentencing Law and Policy, the sentencing guidelines for all the individuals involved are ‘un-chartered’ territory because dog fighting just became a federal felony in May.”

Professor Peter Swire was quoted in an Oregonian story about a federal lawsuit filed by an Oregon Islamic charity that is suing the government over wiretapping. “It’s key to a much bigger issue: Will the American people learn how the government is spying on them?” said Peter Swire, an Ohio State University law professor who once worked in the White House on surveillance issues. “There’s an even bigger issue: Does the president have the right to ignore wiretap laws written by Congress? We’ll only find out the truth if a case like this can go forward.”

Professor Marc Spindelman published an Opinion Editorial in the Cleveland Plain Dealer about the Ohio Supreme Court’s decision in State of Ohio v. Carswell. Spindelman writes that the court’s decision is a great advantage to the state’s lesbian and gay community. “To this extent, at least, Carswell has reopened a future for lesbians and gay men in Ohio, which until recently seemed very, very bleak. Even better, it has done so while affirming women's equality rights. Not a bad day for a conservative court.”

Professor Peter Swire was quoted in a story in the San Jose Mercury News and other newspapers regarding upcoming arguments before a federal court on the government’s controversial wiretapping program. The story states: “But experts are already questioning whether the law, which expires in six months, will address the broader concerns about the scope of the spying program, particularly if it went overboard in the past. ‘The statute does not change the legality of (surveillance) orders issued previously,’ said Peter Swire, an Ohio State University law professor who has testified before Congress on the spying program. ‘It does not suddenly make earlier conduct lawful.’”

Professor Dale Oesterle was quoted in an Advertising Age story regarding the announcement that Bob Nardelli was named the chief executive officer of Chrysler. Oesterle predicted in the story that Nardelli would be quick to cut the company’s advertising budget. “He’s not a public-relations confidence builder, and he’s gruff and arrogant to his people,” said Dale Oesterle, business-law professor at Ohio State University's Moritz College. (Subscription required)

Professor Dan Tokaji was quoted extensively in a Galveston County, Texas, Daily News story regarding potential problems in the voting system in the 2008 presidential election. “Dan Tokaji, an Ohio State University law professor and expert on the Help America Vote Act, said voter registration is high on his list of worries for 2008. … ‘While I think it would be nice if every vote did count,’ Tokaji said, ‘the reality is that every election has mistakes.’

Professor David Goldberger was quoted in The Washington Post regarding a Maryland church that is suing Calvert County, Md. The story states: “David Goldberger, a professor of law at Ohio State University and a lawyer in one of the Supreme Court cases concerning the Religious Land Use act, said it might be difficult for the church to prove that presenting a site plan to the Planning Commission is an undue burden. And he said a higher court probably would need a final decision from an administrative body, such as the Planning Commission, before it would weigh in. ‘They’re going to have an uphill battle,’ he said. ‘You can’t just simply ignore the requirement that you apply for the permit simply because you think they're going to turn you down.’”

Professor Douglas Berman was quoted in a story in The Hill regarding the at least three people pardoned by President Clinton who have once again had run-ins with the government. Berman said that it was not surprising that these people again found themselves in legal trouble. “You could pick 500 of the sweetest human beings on the planet, keep a close eye on them long enough, and a percentage of them are going to do something bad,” Berman said. “Tigers don’t tend to change their stripes all that much.”

Professor Douglas Berman was quoted in the The Oklahoman in a story about overcrowding in prisons across the country. Berman attended the two-day conference in Oklahoma City dedicated to the topic. “The present technology has gotten outdated,” he said. “Prisons have become warehouses instead of a place where we can do anything progressive.”

Professor Edward Foley wrote an Opinion Editorial published in The Columbus Dispatch regarding the possible implications of a U.S. Supreme Court that continually overturns precedent. “Imagine if the U.S. Supreme Court repeatedly overruled itself on abortion, affirmative action and the like, changing position as political parties jostled for control of the court’s majority,” he writes. “Whatever else we might say about judicial flip-flopping, it would not qualify as enforcing the rule of law.”

Professor Paul Rose was quoted in a Financial Week story regarding a government report that found no conflicts in the business of proxy adviser Institutional Shareholder Services. “If a large institutional investor did, in fact, solely rely on a proxy firm’s recommendations, would you expect that firm to admit it?” Rose said. “The investors almost have to say it’s just one of many tools and so on to appear that they’re doing their own due diligence.”

Professor Paul Rose was quoted in the August edition of California Lawyer magazine. "Growth is being fed by recent regulations requiring mutual funds to reveal how they vote their street shares, by institutional investments in developing countries, and by exchange rules—scheduled to become effective January 2008—that eliminate broker discretionary voting in director elections," Rose says. "In all these cases, proxy advisors provide cover, though it's still not clear if following their advice satisfies a pension fund's fiduciary duties."

Professor Marc Spindelman was quoted in a Gay People’s Chronicle story regarding the State of Ohio v. Carswell case decided by the Ohio Supreme Court. The Court ruled that an Ohio law barring domestic violence against an unmarried person who is living with the offender “as a spouse” merely identifies a class of people who are protected by the statute and does not create or recognize a legal relationship that approximates marriage in violation of Ohio’s same-sex marriage ban. “The court has rolled back the cloud of doubt that the marriage amendment rolled in over LGBT rights,” said Ohio State University law professor Marc Spindelman. “The working assumption that the amendment would be an obstacle is gone.” Spindelman was quoted in similar articles in Bay Windows and several other publications.

Professor Marc Spindelman was quoted in a Columbus Dispatch story regarding a Christian group coming to Columbus to encourage the “adoption” of unused embryos. The story said that critics of the group take issue with the use of the word adoption. “I can understand why some people would be upset by the notion that (groups are) calling this adoption,” said Marc Spindelman, an Ohio State University law professor. “The reason this is being called adoption has more to do with the moral status of the embryo as a human being or not than it does anything else. There’s a way in which the attempt is to begin to weave into the law the notion that fertilized eggs are human beings.”

Professor Dale Oesterle was quoted in a Columbus Business First story regarding Roger Blackwell’s decision to likely settle civil charges filed by the SEC against him. “The SEC doesn’t take these lawsuits on a gamble,” said Oesterle, who is not involved in the dispute. “(The SEC) has limited resources and usually doesn’t bring these types of cases unless they have a pretty good chance of winning.” (Paid subscription required)

Professor Peter Shane was quoted in an FCW.com story regarding an international panel that will research the use of online meetings as a way of increasing citizen participation in government decisions. A conference on the topic is expected at The Ohio State University in March 2008. “If there’s going to be a future for online consultation, it’s only going to happen if people become persuaded that their efforts will pay off in terms of real impact on government decision-making,” Shane said.

Professor Marc Spindelman was cited in a Toledo Blade editorial regarding the Ohio Supreme Court’s ruling in Ohio v. Carswell. The editorial praised the court for making a ruling that upheld justice for married and unmarried victims of domestic violence. The editorial says: “The distinction, said Ohio State University law professor Marc Spindelman, indicates the court’s willingness to interpret the marriage amendment ‘in a way that’s conditioned on reason, not inflamed by passions of traditional morality.’”

Professor Peter Shane was quoted in a Congressional Quarterly story about President Bush’s use of executive privilege in the investigation of U.S. attorney firings. The story explains how Democrats have shrinking opportunities to force Bush to cooperate with the investigation, especially now that the Justice Department has said it will not press charges against those people Congress holds in contempt. “At the end of the day . . . ultimate leverage in a criminal scenario belongs to the White House,” said Peter M. Shane, a constitutional law expert at Ohio State University.

Professor Daniel Chow was quoted in a Toledo Blade story regarding China’s lax health and safety standards and how they translate into sometimes tainted products being imported into the United States. “There are extreme quality-control problems because the people who engage in manufacturing there do engage in shortcuts,” he said. “They don’t intend to kill people, but there’s very lax control of manufacturing and it leads to negligence and carelessness.”

Professor Douglas Berman was quoted in a Houston Chronicle story regarding whether President Bush should grant clemency to two Border Patrol agents imprisoned for shooting a fleeing Mexican drug smuggler and hiding evidence. The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed an amendment designed to free the two men by prohibiting the use of federal funds to incarcerate them. "It is an effort for the legislative [branch] in a sense to check and balance the work of the executive branch," Berman said. "As one who knows that prosecutors can often overreach ... I tend to believe in the power of other branches to check that, not just in general but in specific cases."

Professor Donald Tobin was quoted in a Columbus Dispatch story about a Franklin County judge’s decision to dismiss a case against a local pastor accused of taking nearly $1 million from his congregation. The story says: “(Judge Charles A.) Schneider's concern about getting involved in church matters is understandable, but he's taken a fairly broad view of what an ecclesiastical decision would be, said Donald Tobin, an Ohio State University law professor who specializes in nonprofit organizations. ‘Courts have been willing to intervene in order to ensure that church funds are not diverted for illegal purposes,’ he said.

Professor Peter Shane was a guest on PBS’ NewsHour with Jim Lehrer Friday, July 27, to discuss the ongoing investigation of U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. “I think, given this track record, it is hard to say that there is no serious basis for an investigation whether he was speaking truthfully,” Shane said regarding Gonzales. Find a transcript and recording of the show at this link. Shane also was a panelist on National Public Radio’s To the Point program on Thursday, July 27, to discuss the same topic. Listen to a recording of the show here.

Professor Peter Shane participated in an online panel of experts to discuss President Bush’s recent decision to invoke his executive privilege. Hosted by the Federalist Society, the panel included professors from Yale, University of Chicago, and Columbia law schools. “If the executive wants to play at unilateralism, why not play the easiest Congressional pressure card? (And, lest you think these folks would work for free, the Antideficiency Act forbids it.)” Shane wrote. “Might some such move not be more effective at nudging the White House towards a serious deal -- a deal that, at a minimum, involves a transcript?”

Professor Marc Spindelman was quoted in stories in the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Cleveland Plain Dealer, Dayton Daily News, Akron Beacon-Journal and several other newspapers in Ohio and across the country about an Ohio Supreme Court decision regarding the state’s domestic violence statute. The Court ruled that an Ohio law barring domestic violence against an unmarried person who is living with the offender “as a spouse” merely identifies a class of people who are protected by the statute and does not create or recognize a legal relationship that approximates marriage in violation of Ohio’s same-sex marriage ban. Spindelman, an expert in constitutional law and lesbian and gay rights, was quoted in the Dispatch as saying: “My suspicion is that cultural conservatives must be deeply concerned about the court’s ruling today.”

Professor Dan Tokaji was quoted in an AlterNet.org story regarding the consequences of new laws that may hinder the number voter registration drives in several states. Laws included tough rules for groups gathering voter registrations and stiff penalties if those rules weren’t followed. “I think it is a real serious concern,” said Dan Tokaji, assistant professor of law at Ohio State University and an election law expert. “There are constitutional rights, free speech rights and petition rights at issue. What has a lot of voting rights activists concerned is states with GOP-dominated legislatures are going to put a lot of voter registration groups out of business.”

Professor Edward Lee was quoted in a Computerworld.com story via his blog concerning the YouTube presidential debate. The story reads: “However, Edward Lee, a professor at Ohio State University who specializes in law and technology, wrote in his blog that CNN and YouTube ‘botched the debate’ by not allowing all candidates to answer any of the substantive questions, ‘even though many of the YouTube users posed their questions specifically to the entire group of candidates. For a two-hour debate, that's pretty appalling.’

Professor Peter Swire was quoted in the Washington Post, USA Today, the International Herald Tribune, and several other media outlets in a story detailing Microsoft’s decision to take extra steps to protect users’ privacy. "Microsoft is going to do a more thorough scrub of customer data once it is too old," said Peter Swire, a law professor at Ohio State University who served as U.S. privacy czar in the 1990s. "Previously, the practice was to do a partial scrub."
Swire was quoted in similar stories on PCWorld.com, Macworld.com, and ihotdesk.com

Professor James Brudney was quoted in a Toledo Blade follow-up story regarding a federal law that requires employers to give notice to their workers if they are going to lose their jobs. The story detailed a bill that was presented in the U.S. Senate to fill loopholes in the law. "This was a powerful issue in the 1980s and it remains powerful today, notwithstanding an economy in which a certain number of people are very well off. There are a lot of people in the middle and working classes who are at risk of sudden, unexpected loss of jobs on a large scale," said Mr. Brudney, who was chief counsel for the Senate subcommittee on labor from 1987 to 1992.

Professor Peter Shane was quoted in a Los Angeles Times story regarding the U.S. Attorney who may be forced to decide whether to pursue contempt charges against White House officials and others failing to cooperate in the probe of the firing of several U.S. Attorneys. The story says, “Shane suggested that the Justice Department appoint a special counsel to evaluate the merits of the case and the legal arguments. ‘The administration could file legal briefs on behalf of the defense,’ he said, ‘and it would give the defendant an opportunity to raise executive privilege in defense of nonappearance.’”

Professor Sarah Cole was quoted in a story on ADRWorld.com regarding a Washington Supreme Court decision. The court decided to not grant a class action waiver to Cingular, which would have restricted the ability of customers to bring a claim under the state consumer protection law and effectively shielded Cingular from liability for allegedly overcharging for cell phone services. The story stated: “Ohio State University Moritz College of Law Professor Sarah Cole called the ruling a ‘big victory for consumers.’ Because of the FAA’s broad preemptive power, state law does not usually matter, she explained. ‘But here it did because the case deals with consumer protection,’ Cole said.” Subscription required.

Professor Peter Shane was quoted in a Boston Globe story about the difficultness of using legislation to withdraw U.S. troops from a war. Congress has historical precedent when limiting presidents’ powers in times of war, but all those incidents involved a president willing to sign Congress’ bills into law, the story says. President Bush has promised to veto any bill that limits how he conducts the Iraq war. "If the executive branch is determined to push its powers to the brink of what they can get away with, the problem for the other branches is that any response they can make within a system of checks and balances takes time," said Peter Shane, an Ohio State law professor.

Professor Douglas Berman was quoted in a San Francisco Chronicle story regarding President Bush’s decision to eliminate Lewis "Scooter'' Libby’s prison sentence. "To have the attorney general seek to tie judges' hands to force them to follow the strictures of the guidelines ... and then to have the president come along and say the sentence imposed by Judge Walton was excessive was jarring, to say the least, and hypocritical, to say the most," Berman said.

Professor Douglas Berman was quoted in a Toronto Star story about the possible sentence for Conrad Black. The story read: “‘It's like extraordinary alchemy,’ said Douglas Berman, an Ohio State University law professor. In an odd twist, Black could be penalized for the latter under the most recent U.S. sentencing guidelines even though he was neither charged nor convicted of a securities violation, said Berman, an expert on sentencing issues.”

Professor and Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity Director john a. powell was quoted in a Louisville Courier-Journal story regarding alternatives to Louisville’s school integration plan, which was recently struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court. Drawing from a report conducted by Ohio State’s Kirwan Institute, the story finds that a system that uses multiple factors when determining where to place students may be the right fit for Louisville. “In Louisville ... you could essentially maintain integration” using such a system — possibly without considering race, said John Powell, institute director and a top desegregation expert. “You’d lose a little bit, but not much.”

Professor James Brudney was quoted in a Toledo Blade story regarding loopholes discovered in a federal law that requires employers to give notice to their workers if they are going to lose their jobs. Many of the loopholes were created by compromises made by members of Congress to get the bill passed, the story said. “In cutting back enough to obtain a veto-proof margin, we obviously weakened the bill considerably,” said James Brudney, a law professor at Ohio State University who was chief counsel for the U.S. Senate subcommittee on labor from 1987 to 1992.

Professor Peter Swire was quoted in a U.S. News and World Report story regarding the implementation of a massive surveillance camera system being constructed in Lower Manhattan. Civil liberties advocates criticized the system, which would connect hundreds of public and private surveillance cameras, according to the story. "At a very minimum, there should be strict procedures to delete old security tapes and ensure that there can't be unauthorized access to the system," says Peter Swire, a law professor at Ohio State who specializes in technology and privacy issues.

Professor Peter Shane was quoted in the Los Angeles Times story regarding a Justice Department decision to allow top White House aides to disregard subpoenas in the investigation of the firing of several U.S. attorneys. Shane was quoted as: Unlike the pardon power, Congress has "constitutional authority to create and regulate the general conditions of appointment and removal for U.S. attorneys," said Shane, a professor at Ohio State University law school. "Moreover, it is entitled to investigate whether executive branch officials who have already testified under oath have testified truthfully."

Professor Peter Shane was quoted in the Los Angeles Times and the Baltimore Sun regarding President Bush’s decision to assert executive privilege by refusing to allow congressional access to senior officials and documents in regards to the firing of eight U.S. Attorney’s last year. He also was interviewed on several radio programs on the same topic. Here's a link to a Wisconsin Public Radio July 11 interview. "Whether out of arrogance or principled conviction, the current administration has seemed all but oblivious to the political downside of insisting on executive branch secrecy," said Shane, an expert on executive privilege at Ohio State University's law school, in the Los Angeles Times. "Given that no one in the White House is seeking re-election, it is unclear whether they will compromise, short of receiving some extraordinary pressure from congressional Republicans who may be more concerned than the president with appearing to represent the 'party of cover-up.'"

Professor Terri Enns was quoted in the Anderson, S.C., Independent-Mail regarding the leader of a religious group there who was urging members of his affiliated group, the Christian Exodus, to move to Anderson County, S.C., in attempts to sway elections there. The group advocates a strictly literal interpretation of the Constitution. Enns said the group was doing nothing illegal by moving into one voting jurisdiction. “Voting requirement doesn’t regard what your intent is. Your intent is to impact an election. That’s why we all vote,” Enns said. “What the critical question would be is, do they intend to be a resident of the state or county.”

Professor john a. powell was quoted in a New York Daily News column about the Supreme Court’s decision on the use of race in selecting a child’s school in Louisville and Seattle. Powell, a Moritz professor and the executive director of the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity, said in the column: “We have to be uncomfortable with the present racial arrangements. We have to be willing to demand more of ourselves and more of our country.”

Professor Peter Swire was quoted in a story published in The New York Times regarding a new technology called software-defined radios and its potential vulnerability to hackers. Swire said the Federal Communications Commission’s tough mandates for the “smart radios” may be unjustified. “Obscurity works best when the hackers can’t test their attacks,” said Peter Swire, an Ohio State University law professor who has written about the tensions between closed and open approaches to computer security. “For software like this, used in distributed devices, there should be no extra burden on open source.”

john a. powell, Moritz professor and the executive director of the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity, co-wrote an Opinion Editorial for The Seattle Times regarding the Supreme Court’s June 28 decision involving the use of race in selecting a child’s school. The same editorial was printed in Newsday. “The majority of the court has now explicitly recognized the serious harms of racial isolation in our communities and classrooms. The court also recognizes the impact of these arrangements on the promise of liberty and equality on which the nation was founded,” powell said in the editorial, which he co-wrote with Larry Gossett, the chairman of the Metropolitan King County Council. “It is imperative that policymakers and the public not misread this case and overlook the opportunities this unprecedented acknowledgement opens up to achieve integration in our schools and neighborhoods.”

Professor Joshua Dressler was quoted in a Columbus Dispatch story regarding the President’s decision to commute the sentence of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby. The story says that although President Bush called Libby’s 2 1/2-year prison sentence “excessive,” three-fourths of people convicted of similar charges were sent to prison. “To call it excessive is to suggest the guidelines are wrong,” said Dressler, an expert in criminal procedure.

Professor Douglas Berman was quoted in the Washington Post and several other newspapers after President Bush commuted the sentence of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Cheney’s former chief of staff. Libby was expected to spend 2 ½ years in prison for lying to federal investigators. Berman, an expert on criminal sentencing, said Bush’s message amounted to “My friend Scooter shouldn’t have to serve 30 months in prison because I don’t want him to.”
Berman also was quoted in July 4 story in The New York Times. On the same day, he also was quoted in stories in the New York Sun and Los Angeles Times.

Professor Peter Swire was quoted in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram on July 1 in a story about whether photo identification is needed to fly on commercial airlines. The story’s author learned that a photo ID was not required. "It's important for the government to tell us the law before they punish us," said Swire, an expert in privacy issues. "What if you drive to the airport and forget your driver's license and say, 'Oh, I can't visit Grandma,' or, 'I can't go to my business meeting'? A lot of people turn back from travel because they thought they didn't have a choice, when they really did have a choice.”

Professor john a. powell was quoted in the Louisville Courier-Journal on the Supreme Court's landmark school integration cases decided on June 28. One of the two cases called into question the Constitutionality of the Louisville public schools' student assignment plan. The article states "though the court said Louisville and Seattle went too far in explicitly considering the race of students, John Powell, director of the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at Ohio State University, said the court did not turn its back on integration or affirmative action. In fact, for the first time, Powell said, five justices said that there is a compelling public interest in fighting “racial isolation” in the schools."

Professor Peter Shane was quoted in the New York Times regarding the possibility of a Constitutional showdown over the use of executive privilege. “Given the way in which both the U.S. attorney matter and the N.S.A. matter are now percolating through committees, I would be very surprised if there were not a major showdown over executive privilege,” said Peter M. Shane, a law professor at Ohio State University and an authority on executive privilege. “It might not get to court, but there will have to be some very high pressure negotiations at a very late stage to avoid that.”

Professor Alan C. Michaels was quoted in the San Diego Union Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle, Forbes and Dallas Morning News, and a host of other papers, regarding the Supreme Court's decision in a case involving the execution of a mentally ill defendant. “The ruling was quite narrow and there are probably not very many defendants who will be able to stop their executions on the basis of this decision,” said Alan C. Michaels, a criminal law professor at the Ohio State University Moritz College of Law.

Professor Dale A. Oesterle was quoted in a Los Angeles Times story about evidence missing in lawsuits filed against U-Haul. The story documents multiple incidents when attorneys have sought pre-trial evidence from the rental company only to find that the evidence had disappeared. Oesterle was quoted as saying that an occasional failure to preserve evidence “may not be an indictment of corporate policy or corporate attitude…. I don’t think you can expect a corporation to have a perfect record.”

Professor Edward Foley was quoted in The New York Times and a Bloomberg.com story on June 25 about a Supreme Court ruling regarding campaign ads. The court’s 5-4 decision loosened restrictions of a campaign-finance law by granting companies, labor unions, and interest groups more leeway in running pre-election advertisements. “Corporations received the victory that they did not achieve in 2003,” Foley said in The Times.
Foley also was quoted in a Columbus Dispatch story on July 27. He also was mentioned in a Wall Street Journal commentary.

Professor Douglas Berman was quoted in the The New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, and other publications regarding the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in the case of Rita v. United States. The decision means that federal sentences, if within sentencing guidelines, may now be deemed reasonable, making it harder for defendants to challenge them. Those defendants handed sentences within the sentencing guidelines “are going to have an awfully hard time getting that sentence disrupted on appeal,” Berman told the Associated Press.

Professor Peter P. Swire was cited in a Modern Healthcare story about the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ failure to develop a national privacy policy for healthcare information technology. Swire criticized the government for not enforcing HIPAA violations and opposed other experts’ call for a federal pre-emption of state privacy guidelines. “I’m stressing that if we pre-empt and simply have the HIPAA standard, then that would repeal many existing privacy protections,” Swire said in the magazine.

Professor Peter Shane was quoted in the Baltimore Sun and LA Times regarding Congress' issuance of additional White House subpoenas in the U.S. Attorney firing controversy. "I think if you were to stand back from this and say who has the better argument, the answer is going to be Congress," said Peter Shane, an expert on separation of powers at the Ohio State University law school.

Professor Douglas Berman opined in the Austin American Statesman on the possibility of President Bush pardoning Scooter Libby. At Ohio State University, law professor and pardons expert Douglas Berman said his instinct is that Bush would not intervene to help Libby. "He hasn't pardoned very many people, and those he has have been very safe pardons, situations where persons long ago served out their sentences," Berman said.

Professor Douglas Berman was quoted in the Miami Herald, LA Times, Salt Lake Tribune and CBS News on the U.S. Department of Justice's push for stricter sentencing in criminal cases. The DOJ's propose would essentially mandate prison time for all crimes. "I don't think they in a million years think it's going to pass anytime soon," said Douglas Berman, an Ohio State University sentencing expert. "But they've gotten more extra mileage out of threatening this, framing the debate of sentencing reform. Of course this is politics."

Professor Douglas Berman was quoted in Forbes and the San Diego Union Tribune regarding the case of a solider who got into trouble during a trying time between enlistments, but who had reenlisted and was back on track. "If ever there's a poster child for someone who can rehabilitate himself, this is it," Berman would say. "He's got his life on a better path."

In the St. Louis DispatchProfessor Berman discusses the implications of Mario Claiborne's shooting death on his pending U.S. Supreme Court case. The court could swap in the Beal case, announcing its decision as soon as this afternoon. Douglas Berman, an Ohio State University law professor and sentencing expert, said the court also could select a similar appeal or include the bulk of its opinion from Claiborne into a companion case that also deals with sentencing issues. Berman said he hesitates to suggest that Claiborne might not have been where he was on the night of May 29 had his case been decided sooner, but added, "If any of this moved quicker, we would have had a ruling before Claiborne died."

In the Seattle Times, and various other media outlets, sentencing expert Douglas Berman discusses Scooter Libby's sentence for obstructing a federal investigation. "The judge is sending a signal: 'If you think this is a pardon case, do it now. I don't think it is appropriate to let this be strung out indefinitely,' " said Douglas Berman, a sentencing expert at Ohio State University law school. "The legal and political issues get ratcheted up extraordinarily" if Walton orders Libby to jail next week, Berman said.

Professor Dale Oesterle discusses the affect back-dated stock options are having on the NASDAQ stock exchange in The Street. Delisting rules exist to protect investors from companies that have ceased providing the market with up-to-date information and whose stock prices therefore no longer match the company's fundamentals, explains Dale Oesterle, a securities-law professor at Ohio State University Law School. "In the back of Nasdaq's mind must be the view that there's enough information for these prices to still be pretty accurate and that this is a technical disclosure violation and doesn't affect the fundamental aspects of the company," he says.

In the Boston Globe Professor Peter Shane discusses using technology as a way to get citizens more involved in local government issues. In fact, promising experiments are underway to encourage citizen input in regional planning, drafting of regulations, and even to use "wiki" technology to collectively draft laws, says Peter Shane, a law professor at Ohio State University. Shane was the lead investigator for the Virtual Agora Project, a four-year study at Carnegie Mellon University funded in 2001 with a $2.1 million grant from the National Science Foundation. The goal was to investigate whether new information technologies might have, as one of the project's researchers put it, "a potentially revolutionary application -- permitting large numbers of citizens to easily learn about, deliberate, and act on political and social issues." "We found that under carefully designed circumstances we could provide an online meeting that seemed to have the same positive impacts of a face-to-face meeting," Shane says.

Professor Sarah Cole was quoted in a story on ADRWorld.com regarding the Supreme Court’s decision to hear arguments on whether courts are authorized to enforce an arbitration agreement that expands the grounds for judicial review of an award beyond those provided for in the Federal Arbitration Act. The story said: “Ohio State University Moritz College of Law Professor Sarah Cole said the Supreme Court's decision to review the question of the enforceability of clauses expanding judicial review is ‘very exciting’ since that is ‘one of the most interesting issues in arbitration law [today].’” Subscription required.

Professor James Brudney was quoted in the New York Times regarding a 5-4 the Supreme Court decision in which the court held that workers generally lose their right to sue for pay discrimination unless they file charges within 180 days of a specific event, like a boss giving a worker a smaller raise because of her sex. Establishing a pattern of discrimination over several years will no longer be possible. “Unless they notice it on the first paycheck or a recent paycheck, they’re going to be in trouble,” said James Brudney, a professor of labor and employment law at Ohio State University.

Professor Peter Swire is quoted in the Wall Street Journal regarding the use of political campaign techniques in the corporate world, including the idea of negative making negative claims. "Another difference between the campaign and corporate worlds is that businesses have to keep making sales day in and day out, so they're more constrained in the claims they can make. There are even tougher legal restrictions on businesses about the validity of claims, notes Peter Swire, an Ohio State University law professor" in the article.

Professor john a. powell was quoted in the Columbus Dispatch in an article focusing on the fact that 1 in 3 Americans is a minority. "Unlike immigrants at the turn of the last century, immigrants today are not changing their names or rejecting their culture. They are maintaining a connection with their homelands, which is changing the definition of what it means to be an American," said john a. powell, executive director of the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at Ohio State University.

Professor Christoper Fairman discusses the ethics of a controversial alternative dispute resolution tactic called a collaborative agreement in the ABA Journal. “The opinion explicitly states that the collaborative agreement makes the lawyer beholden to a third par­ty, and that limits the lawyer’s ability to represent his client—so they can’t do it,” Fairman said.

Sentencing Expert Doug Berman discusses the Scooter Libby case in U.S. News and World Report.. "His lawyers necessarily are hamstrung in their ability to contextualize the offense, given that they have asserted innocence from the get-go," says Douglas Berman, an Ohio State University law professor.

Election Law expert Ned Foley was quoted in the Boston Globe in an article about a lack of confirmed commissioners at the Federal Election Commission. Of the six commissioners, three are serving under temporary appointments and have not been confirmed by the Senate, two are serving on expired appointments and there is one vacancy. The U.S. Senate should address these appointments in the upcoming months. "If gridlock blocks the appointments from going forward, that is a sign that the debate over the policies that this commission deals with has broken down, and we can't see the end resolution," said Edward Foley , an election law specialist at Ohio State University.

Business law Professor Dale Oesterle was quoted in the New York Times regarding the potential takeover of ABN Amro, or its American Unit - LaSalle Bank - by the Royal Bank of Scotland Group, Barclays or the Bank of America. ABN Amro shareholders will now make the decision. “They are going to have to win this vote, and it is going to be hard if they are $3.5 billion short,” said Dale A. Oesterle, a professor at the Ohio State University law school. “What you have is general pressure on both Barclays and Bank of America to throw a little more money into the pot to win the vote.”

Criminal law Professor Joshua Dressler was quoted in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, and over 250 other publications, regarding the Supreme Court's decision in Scott v. Harris. In a surprising decision, the Court ruled in favor of police who rammed a suspect's car during a 90 mph high speed chase. "The clear trend of police departments in major urban areas has been to limit police chases in general," Dressler said. "There have been so many injuries and deaths as a result of police chases and such great risk of harm to innocent bystanders."

Professor Douglas Berman was quoted in Forbes Magazine regarding the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Smith v. Texas and Abdul-Kabir/Brewer v. Quarterman. Professor Berman was also interviewed about these cases by the Associated Press and more than 40 media outlets, including the L.A. Times, San Francisco Chronicle and Newsday, ran the AP article.

Professor James J. Brudney was quoted in The Oregonian on recent actions by the National Labor Relations Board against a local union. The federal labor officials forced one of Oregon's most active labor groups to suspend many of its organizing efforts for six months, as part of a legal settlement with a Portland worker who accused the union of violating labor laws. The settlement highlights the National Labor Relations Board's efforts to exert more control over "card-check" agreements, in which employers may voluntarily recognize a union if a majority of employees sign cards authorizing representation. "The board is taking a hard look at anything that seems to threaten its election-based approach," said Brudney in the article.

Professor Ruth Colker was quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle on a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision on partial birth abortion. The decision allows Congress to ban a specific abortion method, even if many doctors consider it the safest way to end a pregnancy and appears to signal a new willingness to limit women's access to a medical procedure that has polarized political debate for more than three decades. "I think the court is signaling a pretty strong shift in direction that will probably embolden the pro-life forces,'' said Colker. "They will be a lot more stringent" with challenges that seek to invalidate entire laws, she said.

Professor Douglas A. Berman is quoted in this story from the San Antonio Express-News on a Texas case involving whether a schizophrenic death row inmate Scott Panetti must be spared because, as the Supreme Court said previously, it's cruel and unconstitutional to execute the insane. Ultimately, any ruling on the execution of a mentally ill inmate who jabbers about satanic persecution will call on the court to conduct a gut check, said Berman. "At some point, it's just, 'Wow, this goes too far' or 'It doesn't go too far,'" said Berman. "It strikes me that those cases tend to be the most revealing."

Professor Peter Swire is quoted in this article from the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review on the possible government fines to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center for revealing the private records of 80 patients, making it the first such fine in the country. Federal law prohibits the unauthorized release of private medical information. "The current policy is to give hospitals one free violation. That sends the wrong message," said Swire. "Compliance people in hospitals have complained that they are not getting budget and support due to this no-enforcement strategy."

In this story from the Columbus Dispatch on the provision in Ohio Governor Ted Strickland's budget that says whenever a public official illegally votes to approve a contract, that contract is invalid, professor Dale A. Oesterle said that it is appropriate for Strickland to address corruption issues, given the scandals in state government during the past two years. But Oesterle said the proposed change might be too drastic, agreeing that when the person or company benefiting from a contract is aware of a conflict and capitalizes on it, the contract should be void. When the person or company getting the contract is innocent or the contract is good for the state, however, Oesterle suggested there should be some leeway to allow it to stand. "It's just a personal opinion there needs to be a more nuanced approach," he said. "It's the difference between being void and voidable."

In this article from The New York Times on a man convicted of having sex with his 22-year-old stepdaughter who is seeking to challenge Ohio's incest law through an appeal to the United States Supreme Court, Professor Douglas A. Berman said the rape accusation might keep the case off the Supreme Court's docket. He predicted that the court would wait to review the constitutionality of the Ohio law for a more clear-cut case. "When the state of Ohio goes and tries to prosecute the 70-year-old for sleeping with his 50-year-old stepdaughter, we'll worry about this when that happens."

Professor Douglas A. Berman is quoted in this story from The New York Sun on Sami Al-Arian, a Florida college professor who pleaded guilty to a charge of providing services to Palestinian Islamic Jihad, who is asking the Supreme Court to overturn his 57-month prison sentence. "I believe strongly that the court should and probably will before the end of the decade return to the issue of acquitted conduct," Berman said. However, the professor said Al-Arian's situation doesn't present the question in a straightforward way. "I think this is a particularly bad vehicle for the court to take up these issues," Berman said.

Professor Terri Enns is quoted in this Associated Press story (from the Akron Beacon Journal) about Ohio's system of funding schools being ruled unconstitutional a decade ago by the state Supreme Court and people having found ways to take the lawsuit beyond piles of court documents. Enns said that Korea would seem an even more unlikely place to get an education on the lawsuit, but a student who traveled to study law at Ohio State University already knew about the case when it was discussed in a class in February. The student told the class that the case had been of interest in her home country because of its relationship to Korea's own school funding issues, Enns said.

Professor Dale A. Oesterle is quoted in this story from Law.com on a case (Credit Suisse v. Billing) alleging what one federal appellate court described as an "epic Wall Street conspiracy," the nation's highest court soon will examine the scope of immunity from antitrust claims when federal securities regulations and federal antitrust law collide. The Supreme Court had opportunities to impose antitrust rules on the securities industry in the 1960s and 1970s but refused to do so, said Oesterle. "So at issue is what is the strength of those older cases," he said. Congress, he added, could have changed the laws and given overlapping jurisdiction at any time but did not. Oesterle said he is "sympathetic" to application of the antitrust laws here for policy reasons.

Professor Peter M. Shane is quoted in this Chicago Tribune article on President Bush forbidding his top aides to testify publicly and under oath on the firings of eight federal prosecutors, possibly setting the stage for a possible legal battle with Congress that he might not be able to win, experts say, making a compromise more likely. "There is no absolute right to presidential privilege," said Shane. "What's at stake here is a qualified privilege. Bascially what somebody has to do—and that somebody could ultimately be a court—is consider the interests at stake for both parties… and which is the weightier interest."

Professor Edward B. "Ned" Foley is quoted in this Associated Press story on Yale Law School professor Heather Gerken's "Democracy Index," which would rank states on how well they handle elections. "Both sides have to believe that the index is fair and accurate and a reasonable basis for judging the operation of their state system," said Foley. "There have been flaws exposed that need rectification. But I think some of the distrust is overly done, out of proportion. It would be better if we could say, 'Here's what the objective evidence is.'"

Professor Peter M. Shane is quoted in this story from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (appearing in the Columbus Dispatch) about the flap over the recent firing of eight U.S. attorneys. "The reason why the president hasn't done anything unlawful is because Congress, as a matter of policy, has trusted presidents to exercise this in wise and legitimate ways," said Shane. "I don't think Congress was thinking that if U.S. attorneys don't beat up on the opposition party with sufficient vigor, we think it would be great for the president to get rid of them."

In this story from the Columbus Dispatch on Columbus' (and Ohio's) ban on indoor smoking and how it will affect performers, Professor David A. Goldberger thinks officials will let performers smoke away. "For the most part, public officials are pretty sensible about these things, the law notwithstanding," said Goldberger. Smoking during a performance is not what the law was designed to prevent, he said. The law is aimed at protecting the public's health, not censoring performers. "Except in the most backward jurisdictions, accommodations are generally made for these kinds of things," he said.

Professor Joshua Dressler was quoted in this Associated Press story on Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's claims that he was responsible for dozens of successful, foiled and imagined attacks in the past 15 years. "In light of the rambling nature of his statements, and the views of some that he is prone to exaggerate his importance, we cannot feel confident we know exactly the level of his involvement in various prior attacks," said Dressler.

In this article from The New York Sun on the conviction of I. Lewis Libby Jr., professor Douglas A. Berman said some jail time was all but certain. "There is a heck of a lot of play in the joints," said Berman. "I can't think of a single case where a defendant went to trial and lost and didn't fess up, having guidelines in the incarceration range, not getting incarceration."

Professor Douglas A. Berman is quoted in this story from the Los Angeles Times on the guilty verdict against former vice presidential aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby. "If the government wants to go full-court press, they could argue ... in the range of five to seven years, and maybe more," said Berman. The guidelines, he said, allow for a sentence to be augmented when a defendant is convicted of covering up a serious crime, which in the case of Libby involved the possible disclosure of classified information.

In this Columbus Dispatch article on the Ohio Supreme Court's ruling that the state's antiincest law applies even when there is no blood relationship and both parties are consenting adults, professor Marc Spindelman said that whether the ruling survives a challenge might depend on whether the court merely is taking a stand for traditional morality or whether it is preventing harm to children. "Here, the state isn't proving harm, it's presuming harm," said Spindelman. On the other hand, Ohio's incest law likely would survive a challenge if it could be shown to protect children from sexual abuse, he said.

Professor Douglas A. Berman is quoted in this article from The New York Times on a case involving an Arizona man who received a 200-year prison sentence for possessing 20 pornographic images of children and his failing to persuade the Supreme Court to consider whether the sentence was unconstitutionally excessive. Berman noted the difference in the court's treatment of punitive damages and criminal sentencing. "For a host of good reasons, the justices think they have a role in regulating extreme corporate punishment, but I fear the court doesn't embrace a role in regulating extreme individual punishment."

Professor David Goldberger is quoted in this Associated Press story from the Akron Beacon Journal about a case before the Ohio Supreme Court in which a man is arguing that his speeding ticket is invalid because the police officer who made the traffic stop left a box unchecked. "It seems picky, but he appears to be raising an interesting constitutional issue," said Goldberger. "If you are charged with an offense, the state has the duty to give you notice of everything that establishes the offense."

In this International Herald Tribune story on an "epidemic of counterfeits" of life-saving drugs in Asia, professor Daniel C.K. Chow said he believed that the authorities would pursue counterfeiters "ruthlessly" for killing Chinese citizens but be more lax about drugs for export. "The counterfeiters aren't stupid," he said. "They don't want anyone beating down the door in the middle of the night and dragging them away, so they make drugs for sale outside the country."

Professor Daniel P. Tokaji is quoted in this Boston Globe story on efforts that are intensifying in Congress to pass legislation that would require electronic touch-screen voting machines used in federal elections to provide paper trails that could be checked in the case of a recount. Tokaji said the bill's focus on paper trails reflects a desire for a simple fix. "It could well create more problems in terms of both creating post-election litigation and creating administrative problems in counting these paper strips," Tokaji said. "We know they can be compromised, torn, crumpled," and have printing problems, he said.

In this Associated Press story from the Dallas Morning News on officials manipulating polling locations to clear the path for their supporters to vote and to toss numerous roadblocks before their opponents in two recent Houston-area elections, Professor Daniel P. Tokaji is quoted. "These are things that can often fly beneath the radar," said Tokaji. "Unless somebody notices it and makes a big stink through the ordinary political process, you're not going to hear a lot about that. And it's very easy for these sorts of decisions to slip through without detection."

Professor Peter Shane is quoted in this Law.com article on the process of appointing U.S. Attorneys. Shane said that as long as U.S. Attorneys are considered "inferior officers" under the Constitution, as they are now, the Constitution allows Congress to forgo its advise and consent power and to give the appointing authority to the president alone, heads of departments or to courts. "What's interesting about all of this, in part, is: This is a potential constitutional-theory nightmare for the Bush administration," he said. "On the one hand, of course they would want to defend the legality of the interim appointments by the attorney general and that defense depends on the characterization of U.S. Attorneys as inferior officers. On the other hand, I'm guessing they wouldn't be too happy about judicial appointment of these folks."

Professor Peter Shane is quoted in this New York Times article on the upcoming testimony by Vice President Dick Cheney in the Libby trial. "This could be great theater," said Shane. Anything Mr. Cheney says for the defense, he said, becomes "fair game" to be picked apart by the prosecution. This story also appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle and the Dallas Morning News.

In this article from The Palm Beach Post on Florida's efforts to ban paperless voting and use optical scan ballots, professor Daniel P. Tokaji said optical scan ballots are fine, but he cautioned that "paper systems invariably produce some ambiguously marked ballots."

In this article from Reuters on U.S. Securities regulators approving Zions Bancorp.'s market-based methods of valuing employee stock options, professor Dale Oesterle said it may result in high options values for companies in volatile sectors like technology.

Professor Douglas A. Berman is quoted in this Columbus Dispatch article on the possible sentences for former Columbus recreation and parks director Wayne A. Roberts and his former girlfriend, Krystal Griffin, for scamming taxpayers. "I think it's awfully unlikely that they would get a sentence at the high end," said Berman. He noted that both are first-time offenders who pleaded guilty instead of making prosecutors take them to trial. "All judges are understandably concerned about being consistent. They also understand individual justice," he said. "The devil is always in the details."

Professor Peter Swire is quoted in this article from PC World on online ads and the information that companies collect on visitors. "Once a database exists, people often dream up ways to use it," said Swire. "Notice and effective choice by consumers are the way to go."

In this story from Wired News, Professor Peter Swire said that privacy issues are inextricably tied to health care and its efficient management and delivery -- a No. 1 topic on the Clinton agenda. "Hillary is an expert in health care -- she even did joint sessions with Newt Gingrich on building electronic health records," he says. "One of the trickiest problems is building a safe and secure system."

In this article from The New York Times on Supreme Court invalidating California's criminal sentencing law on Monday, ruling that the 30-year-old statute gave judges authority that the Constitution places with juries, Professor Douglas A. Berman said the decision confirmed the Supreme Court as "the most liberal, pro-defendant court in the country on sentencing procedure."

Professor Douglas A. Berman is quoted in this Associated Press story about the Supreme Court making clear that juries, not judges, must determine facts that justify harsher prison sentences. Berman said the decision makes one point crystal clear. "You have to give defendants the full jury trial right," Berman said. This story appeared in 82 publications.

Professor Marc Spindelman is quoted in this Dayton Daily News story on gender identity discrimination policies changing under the new leadership in Ohio. Spindelman said a broad interpretation of "gender identity" could cover nonconforming people such as cross dressers and pre- and post-surgery transsexuals. "It seems hard to imagine that there won't be some people in the state who are incredibly upset by the notion that people will be being judged simply on the basis of their merit and their workplace performance," Spindelman said.

In this article from the Columbus Dispatch on a proposed Ohio amendment that would require the State Board of Education to determine the elements and ensuing cost of a quality education, Professor David Goldberger is quoted. "If lawmakers ignore the board, the Ohio Supreme Court will have the obligation to do something," said Goldberger. "The court is going to have to make sure lawmakers don't cut (the board's assessment) too much."

Professor Daniel P. Tokaji is quoted in this Columbus Dispatch article on Democrats taking over a majority of precincts and presiding over elections in more than 90 percent of suburban Columbus precincts due to Ted Strickland's victory. Officials understate the impact of precinct-level elections officials, said Tokaji. Although both parties have representatives at the polls, presiding judges have the final say when poll workers disagree on how to enforce the rules. Last-minute directives and court orders before Ohio's 2004 and 2006 elections left many of those rules open to interpretation, Tokaji said. "We've got all these really complex laws, and a lot of discretion is left with poll workers. A precinct is where the rule hits the pavement," he said.

Professor John Quigley is quoted in this article from the Austin American Statesman on Congress' power to halt war. "Congress really hasn't invoked the power it has under the Constitution very successfully," said Quigley. "Once the president gets the country involved in something, the decision about exactly how to extricate one from it is very difficult, and often it does put the Congress in the position of appearing unpatriotic or not supportive of the troops." The Constitution gives Congress the power of the purse. If the body wants to cut off funding for the Iraq war, "it clearly has the authority to do it," Quigley said.

Professor Douglas A. Berman is quoted in this Washington Post story about the Supreme Court of the United States and death penalty cases. Berman said the court's decisions in most death penalty cases affect only a handful of people in the states from which the cases arise. He would like to see the court spend time on other sentencing disparities "that affect thousands of people every day."

In this article from the Los Angeles Times on a federal appeals court in San Francisco overturning the 22-year sentence of Ahmed Ressam, known as the "millennium bomber," and sending it back to U.S. District Court in Seattle, Professor Douglas A. Berman said it made sense for the three-judge panel to send the case back to Coughenour and tell him to wait to resentence Ressam until the Supreme Court brings some clarity to federal sentencing law.

In this op-ed from The Pueblo Chieftain (Pueblo, Colo.), Professor John B. Quigley's piece is entitled "PRO: Bush can spur Hamas into peace talks." Also see "The diplomatic key to Middle East peace" (The Beacon Journal, Akron, Ohio).

Professor Douglas A. Berman is quoted in this Chicago Tribune article on the government crackdown on corporate crime coming under pressure to back off amid intense business lobbying and adverse court rulings. "Every month that goes by, the pushback seems to gather more steam," says Berman. "It's a realization the tough-on-crime campaign against white-collar offenders was at risk of being too tough."

Professor Edward B. "Ned" Foley is quoted in this Toledo Blade story on Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland's apparently unprecedented decision on his first day in office to recall and veto a bill that former Republican Gov. Bob Taft intended to become law. "This does not appear to be an issue that can be resolved upon first glance, but requires considerable additional study," said Foley. The test of the relative constitution is not sufficiently clear to yield automatic answers.

Professor Edward Lee was quoted in this Associated Press story that appeared in the Washington Post which discusses a YouTube video from a British man calling for the pullout of U.S. troops in Iraq that has stoked a small online protest and tested the video sharing site's potential for viral demonstration. "Those real-life events that are not scripted but captured, I think it's easier for them to become viral videos as opposed to some random guy who's vlogging and trying to organize a campaign," says Lee. "YouTube is still a limited number of people who actually go there and many are not going there for commentary by strangers as opposed to videos that are more entertaining. YouTube as a platform to get the word out and organize is probably still dependent on traditional media. At the same token, there's great room for developing this platform."

Professor Daniel P. Tokaji is quoted in this article from the Los Angeles Times that addresses the sharply divided federal appeals court in Chicago upholding an Indiana law Thursday that requires individuals to produce a government-issued photo identification card to vote. In light of Thursday's ruling, Tokaji said, lawyers filing cases of this kind in the future "would do well to have a large number of plaintiffs who have been obstructed from voting as a result of the law."

This report on HIPAA loopholes from MediLexicon International uses a quote from Professor Peter Swire that appeared in an article in the Wall Street Journal (Dec. 26). "We're three years into the enforcement of the rule, and they haven't brought their first enforcement initiative," Swire said. "It sends the signal that the health system can ignore this issue."

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